Borders in Social Media - some remarks on the influence of media on young people

dr Katarzyna Lidia Papaja, Tischner European University in Krakow,  Poland, ID LLCE2018-311;     Abstract: There are many definitions of Computer-Mediated Communication. According to Baron (2003: 10), “the term CMC refers to a written natural language sent via the Internet”. This definition refers to the written message only, however, a few years later Baron (2011: 119) added the following term “electronically-mediated communication” claiming that it is any kind of communication, which takes place through electronical devices. Nowadays, this type of communication has become very popular when teaching foreign languages, especially English. A lot of young people have been brought up with a computer and treat it as the main source of communication. There are many ways to communicate via the Internet: e-mail, IM, SNS, SMS, chat and soon. The aim of this presentation is to discuss how the English Philology students (Internet users) coming from different countries, namely Poland and Germany adapt their language to the reality of Computer-Mediated Communication. There is no doubt that language used while communication via the Internet is different from the one used offline, which is due to the limitations of the written text and the lack of face-to-face contact. Social media which is a group of Internet-based applications take on many different forms such as blogs (e.g. Twitter), social networking sites (e.g. Facebook), content communities (e.g. YouTube), photographs or pictures (e.g. Instagram), wall-posting (e.g. Pinterest), rating and social bookmarking (e.g. Foursquare) and many others. The questionnaire, which was especially designed for the purpose of the study, consists of closed-ended and open-ended questions. More than 100 students from the English Department (State University of Applied Sciences in Konin, Poland and University of Pedagogy in Freiburg, Germany) have taken part in the study. The obtained data will allow me to find out how the English Philology students adapt their language to the reality of Computer-Mediated Communication and what impact it has on foreign language learning.

References:

Baron, N. 2011. Assessing the Internet’s Impact on Language. In: Consalvo, M. & Ess, C. (eds.). The Handbook of Internet Studies. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd:117-136.